Mrs R and I were talking last night whilst topping up glasses during a good listening session last night about how before we met some 35 years ago,how I got into Naim etc
What was it that turned me into the brand etc, and given it was the early eighties memory can be tricky at our age!
I can remember having an LP12 with an LVX/Supex MM running into a NAD 3020 driving a pair of MK 1 Kans ( yes at the time it did work!)
I had just purchased Big Country’s debut album and was having difficulty getting into it, too many highs etc really unbalanced. Spoke to my dealer and a loan Ittok with same Supex was fitted. First magic moment, better separation and more able to follow the highs and just better controlled loved the album.
Read about the 42/110 but was skeptical due to the overwhelming magazine hype etc. So arranged a trial of above and first thought I had made a drastic mistake. But within a week another magic moment appeared I was listening more the Big Country album was still being played but so were others as well. On the way home I would call into my local record shop looking for stuff I didn’t know
So there you have it, not in a nutshell but the reason why we still have the Naim magic moments!
@Isobarik I came to Naim relatively recently, which was as much a tale of reconnecting with a great dealer as anything else. Before Naim, I had an all Rega system. I had consistent reliability with the Saturn. We found the integrated amp, and the Saturn difficult to operate with our disabilities. The system got trashed during a home renovation. The components were relatively old and not with a claim.
At the sane time, my former dealer could no longer provide home support. I then reached out to several NYC dealers, detailing the hone support we needed. Only one dealer responded.which happened to be my dealer from the past. He suggested Naim and I love Naim.
That’s the only real test isn’t it. Never mind all the talk and excitement. How does an upgrade impact our relationship with music in the following weeks? Are we compelled to play more, buy more? Alternatively, does our longing to hear music fade and/or we start thinking about another upgrade?
Recent 42/110 convert here. I can’t believe how right they sound, after a NAIT3 for 2 decades, and a relatively brief time with an XS3, the little boxes make great music!! 8)
(I can see from your profile you don’t still have the CB kit? But I can totally understand your view of them.)
@Murmur i have gone through a series of relatively rapid upgrades to get me to my current system. Now I am just listening to music which is quite an adjustment. Yesterday we listened to Porgy and Bess. Live from the Met. The system sounded very good.
@Murmur i don’t care for the way they do the dust cover on the P10, but I understand why. It’s great VFM and gets the PRAT right. Because of my disabilities, my husband needs to help putting the dust cover back on. No big deal. It works well with my NVCTT phono stage.
I purchased my first LP12 in 1981 and used it with an A&R A60 amplifier, dring a pair of Tannoy Cheviot speakers that I had owned for about five years. First upgrade was to replace the S-shaped Linn Basik tonearm with an Ittok and the standard fit cartridge with a Rega R100. Next came a Nytech CTA252 with supplementary amplifier, I believe it was CXA in order to run active and a pair of ARC 050 speakers. I than compared this with a 42/110 and Linn Kans and my Linn/Naim journey had begun. Next up was a pre-owned Asak T and MC boards for the 42. I eventually reached NAC52/Supercap via 32.5/Hi-Cap/250 and NAC82/Hi-Cap/250.
The magic moment was the 42/110 driving MkI Kans. Unrelenting perhaps, but just so musical.
For a big, loose and boogie vintage sound it seems to me the more simple Naim/Linn the better (Nait, 42/110+Kan) whilst 110 being one of the stars all the LPs were voiced for that back in 70s/80s
Thanks for all the great responses, my link with the eighties kit still remains in my treasured 1984 CB Hicap not that I don’t treasure it all but there is something about the little boxes
Day off today as working shifts later in the week weather very bad so listening to Eva Cassidy another magic moment when i first heard her voice on the Terry Wogan R2 morning show. Both sadly missed.
I blame my mentor at my first job - he had LP12, Naim Amps and Isobariks. Hearing this and then going home meant anything I heard was now very disappointing. I had no idea this sort of equipment existed or that music could sound so musical.
So I then saved my lowly salary to Rega P3, Cyrus 2 Amp and Mission 70 speakers. Moved through various combinations to end up with LP12, 32.5, 110 and Heybrook HB1 speakers. Sold it all to fund an addition to the family who is now at university, so am back with Naim. Am amazed I lasted such a long time without it, but I wouldn’t part with it again.
LP12, 32.5/110 and Kans was this first of many magic moments. A change to 72/135’s and Isobarics brought the musicians into the house! A 500 system with DBL’s makes every track a performance and a musical adventure.
I know that Cassidy magic, she sounds sooo good with Kan and her voice actually drew me into Kan and Naim, very nostalgic.
I moved onto Olive earlier this month and don’t really missing the CB boxes. But as I re-connect all boxes for a demo of potential buyer, in right signal grounding order and pulled out an unused pair of 322 boards, with LP12 and Kan my 32.5/HC/250 sounds phenomenal now I don’t want to sell it honestly.
My “moment” was when I purchased a Rega P2.
I’d auditioned it with my JVC amp and Celestion Ditton 22 speakers.
My dealer, Derek Whittington suggested I might like to hear it with some different speakers and produced a pair of Royd A7’s.
I was gobsmacked and a week later, I went back and listened properly and bought a pair.
At that audition, later, he substituted the JVC with a Nait 2.
Once again, I was gobsmacked.
A few weeks later I bought the Nait 2.
It wasn’t long before I bought a 72/140 combo and a hi-cap followed soon after that.. Then the LP12…
You can guess the rest!
EDIT: I should have added that I bought a pair of Linn Kan II speakers not long after the Nait 2 which spurred me rather quickly to buy the 72 / 140 and later hi-cap.
Undoubtedly in the early / mid 1980s. I was a student in London and we had quite an active HIFi / music scene and met lots of interesting folk then, and the Sound Org at London Bridge was really I guess near the centre of the flat earth. At that point I had a Rega 3 and Quad 33/ 303 which I though was the bee’s knees but the Naim mythology was interesting and with some wrangling I managed to borrow a 12s / 160 (bolt down). Oh boy what a moment that was. We just could not believe the excitement and ‘liveness’ the Naim amps conveyed.
Needless to say that quickly led to LP12 / Ittok / Asak, and Kans (I had good holiday jobs…). We had a basement flat and the sound from that system was absolutely crazy - just filled the room with effortless loud music even with Kans and those Naim amps just rocked and drove things on. Loved that system and it’s still a reference for me now.
Mid 80s I compared a Nait with the Exposure 10. The Exposure had the edge for me and I ended up with their top pre/power after a few years. It was lovely, but it just lacked that slight edginess that makes Naim sound alive. Ended up changing it for an Olive 82/180 and some SBLs. That was when the magic happened for me…
all the LPs were voiced for that back in 70s/80s